After easily dispatching N.C. State and Maryland this week, Carolina is one game away from a home game against Duke for the regular season ACC Championship. If the Heels can take care of business against a Florida State team playing without it's best player, they will be in a position that no one thought possible coming into the season...controlling their own destiny for an outright ACC Championship with one game to go. Duke was supposed to be the unstoppable force in the ACC this year, but the injury to Kyrie Irving combined with Larry Drew's decision to leave UNC completely changed things.
Carolina started very slowly on Wednesday in Raleigh, spotting N.C. State an early lead before coming back to win handily and beat the Wolfpack for the 10th straight time. This game was a little different than the past few, as the guards led the way on offense for a change. Kendall Marshall had several timely drives to the basket and finished with 14 points, while Dexter Strickland ended his string of poor offensive performances with 13 points on 5-8 shooting. John Henson had his standard game of 8 points, 15 rebounds and 6 blocks, and the Heels got good contributions from Zeller and Barnes to get by with a 75-63 win. N.C. State fell to 4-9 in the ACC with the loss, and calls for Sidney Lowe's job grew louder and louder as the game drew to an end.
On Sunday Maryland had no answer for the Heels inside, as Tyler Zeller had 25 points and 6 rebounds while Henson finished with 10 points, 15 rebounds, and 7 blocks. Zeller has really been asserting himself down low and in transition on the offensive end lately, while Henson is dominating the game on defense. Opposing teams are struggling to get anything going inside with the incredibly long Henson patrolling the paint, and he seems to block or alter almost every shot in his vicinity. Opponents are forced to be constantly concerned with the whereabouts of #31, and you can see it effecting every decision they make around the basket.
Kendall Marshall was once again instrumental in running the team, finishing with 4 points, 10 assists, and 3 steals. He just has an incredible feel for the game, and instinctively does what is needed of him in different situations. If the team is struggling to score, Marshall gets more aggressive and looks to get to the basket. If someone is hot, he gets them the ball in positions to succeed. He knows when to push the tempo and when to slow down, and although he doesn't put up staggering numbers, he has a huge impact on the game.
Dexter Strickland followed up his stellar game against N.C. State with a solid game as a facilitator and defender against the Terps, finishing with 8 assists and only one turnover. He made all 6 of his shots from the free throw line, but missed all 6 from the field. Meanwhile Leslie McDonald broke out with 15 points on 6-10 shooting, including 3-5 from downtown, in only 20 minutes versus Dexter's 29. This game made it obvious that McDonald needs to be the man at the shooting guard position, as Reggie Bullock just can't seem to break out of his horrific slump. Bullock only saw 7 minutes of action against Maryland, and managed to go 1-8 in that time. I still believe in Reggie, but he's making it pretty hard for Roy to give him more time. If McDonald and Strickland switched minutes, this team would be operating at close to an optimal level coming into the final week of the regular season.
Carolina travels to Tallahassee to take on the Seminoles on Wednesday at 7pm, and if they can win that one the match-up with Duke will be for the #1 seed in the ACC Tournament. Florida State star Chris Singleton is out for the season with a broken foot, so the Seminoles really shouldn't have the fire power to knock off the Heels. If UNC can get off to a quick lead and take the crowd out of the game early, they should be able to get out of the Civic Center with a victory and set the stage for Saturday night's monster game against Duke.
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